Live at Montreux

Anyway, it's two separate concerts at Montreux. The first one is strangely greeted with boos from the crowd, who were presumably expecting HearSay some 21 years before they formed. The second is much better received.

In both concerts, SRV's guitar has an Albert King style twang to it, which gets me every time. His fingers seem to move pretty fast too although, unlike Buddy Guy, his brain is always fast enough to keep up with them.

There are also a couple of tracks on the second cd that remind me of other guitarists. No prizes for worling out who Voodoo Child (slight rerun) brought to mind, but there's another track that has a very Dave Gilmour feel to it, reminding me of Animals. Can't remember which track that was though. Sorry about that but this is one of those albums you just put on and enjoy without keeping looking back at the track listing.


The best available live material by SRV   July 12, 2003
 12 out of 12 found this review helpful

Well, first of all, the 1985 Montreux show is very good. The fact that several of the '85 cuts were released back in '86 on the "Live Alive" album is a bit of a drawback, but the performance itself is flawless. Stevie Ray Vaughan and his band perform superbly throughout the set, resulting in magnificent renditions of "Tin Pan Alley", "Ain't Gone 'N' Give Up On Love" and several more.

But the 1982 show is the real revelation here. I have heard all the official live albums by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, and this magnificent performance outdoes them all.
It is somewhat unpleasant to hear the crowd's reaction (unlike the 1985 show, Vaughan was met with indifference and even hostility when he first performed in Montreux), but the music is white-hot.

Opening with two instrumentals, Freddie King's "Hide Away" and his own "Rude Mood", Stevie Ray Vaughan plays some of the very best and bluesist guitar you'll ever hear, particularly on a smouldering ten-minute version of "Texas Flood".
He was sometimes accused of playing ten notes when three would have done the job, but that accusation certainly doesn't hold up on these fabulous recordings.
Also, his vocal performance is superb. He rocks on "Give Me Back My Wig" and growls menacingly on "Dirty Pool", and the production is excellent. Sometimes a live album will suffer from the vocals being too low in the mix, but here the mixing is perfect. And Vaughan's playing on "Pride And Joy" and "Love Struck Baby" makes it hard to believe there was only one guitar player present.

This is by far one of the very best live blues and blues-rock albums I have ever heard, and if you like the genre you can't go wrong with "Live in Montreux".


FINGERS HAVE BLED FOR LESS   October 30, 2002
 18 out of 19 found this review helpful

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Like Stevie Ray Vaughan ?.......BUY IT!
Like the Blues ?........................BUY IT!
Like great guitar playin' ?..........BUY IT!
Got a pulse ?............................BUY IT!

Be witness to the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughan at his very best, in his natural habitat.....LIVE!
Be witness to probably the greatest concert recordings of his, or any, career.

First the seminal 1982 concert, famous as the one where the Swiss gnomes inexplicably booed him (they must have been expecting an evening of traditional zither music), while he burned the place down with a raw, rockin' set that was later seen as heralding the emergence of a guitar legend. If you like SRV before the edges got knocked off, this is the real deal (also check out "In the Beginning")

This is twinned with his triumphal Montreux return concert in 1985, a searing set displaying the fully developed range of SRV's talents. From the slow hound-dog howl of "Tin Pan Alley" to the finger-pickin' frenzy of "Scuttle Buttin'", from the gut-renching of "Voodoo Chile" to the sophistication of "Life Without You", he had it all.

This double-CD gives testimony to the fact that SRV could play the guitar like no other.
It screams, it kicks, it burns, it howls, it rasps. Fingers have bled for less.


Ranking up there with incredible sex...   January 22, 2002
 38 out of 39 found this review helpful

This has to be one of the most amazing blues albums ever released. We are lucky that it was actually recorded - particularly the first disc wherein SRV is boo'ed by the yahoos of Montreux... (Well - what can you say for a continent that thinks that Johnny Halliday rocks..?) (They are great on jazz but know squat about the blues!)While I adore that Chris Layton is introduced before one of the greatest guitarists of the 20th century, scant attention is paid to the fact that this is one of the raunchiest, rawest, most real of SRV's recordings. It makes you want to DO things! The difference between the '82 recording (SUBLIME) and the '85 (disc 2)has naught to do with talent but merely with polish and experience. Disc 1 will blow even the most devoted Mitch Miller devotees out of their socks. Disc 2 (1985) is delicious and shows how much a talent can evolve in just a few years. The entire compilation is inspired and a great tribute to the development of the blues. A must for any collector - serious or not. Heaven to listen to and a thrill to own. BUY IT!